Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens: Character Summary ARTHUR CLENNAM: son of Mrs. Clennam who takes an interest in Little Dorrit MR. WILLIAM DORRIT: a proud man who becomes the Father of the Marshalsea JEREMIAH FLINTWINCH: servant and partner of Mrs. Clennam's HENRY GOWAN: an untalented artist tied to the Barnacle family MR. MEAGLES: a kindly retired banker MR. MERDLE: a well-respected man whose wealthy, though nobody knows how MR. PANCKS: a rent collector for Mr. Casby RIGAUD (ALSO KNOWN AS LAGNIER AND LATER BLANDOIS): a former prisoner of Marseilles and a murderer MRS. CLENNAM: Arthur's difficult mother AMY DORRIT (KNOWN AS LITTLE DORRIT): the youngest child of Mr. Dorrit, born at the Marshalsea FANNY DORRIT (LATER KNOWN AS MRS. SPARKLER): Amy's proud elder sister FLORA FINCHING: Arthur's former love, daughter of Mr. Casby MRS.

AFFERY FLINTWINCH: Jeremiah's wife, who believes she is passing through life dreaming MRS. MEAGLES: Mr. Meagles' wife MINNIE MEAGLES (NICKNAMED PET AND LATER KNOWN AS MRS. GOWAN): The daughter of the Meagles and Henry Gowan's wife MISS WADE: a sullen woman of mystery MR.

FREDERICK DORRIT: William's brother who is a musician and considered feeble-minded DANIEL DOYCE: an inventor, friend of the Meagles, and partner to Arthur Clennam SUPPORTING CHARACTERS CLARENCE BARNACLE: the son of Tite Barnacle who works at the Circumlocution Office LORD DECIMUS BARNACLE: highly placed official of the Circumlocution Office FERDINAND BARNACLE: private secretary of Lord Decimus, a good-natured fellow TITE BARNACLE: a high official of the Circumlocution Office BOB: turnkey of the Marshalsea Prison and godfather to Little Dorrit CHRISTOPHER CASBY (KNOWN AS THE PATRIARCH): landlord of the Bleeding Heart Yard who has a reputation for benevolence JOHN BAPTIST CAVALLETO: a fellow prisoner of Rigaud's at Marseilles JOHN CHIVERY: a non-resident turnkey at the Marshalsea YOUNG JOHN CHIVERY: John Chivery's son, later a turnkey, who loves Little Dorrit EDWARD DORRIT (NICKNAMED TIP): the idle son of William Dorrit JOHN EDWARD

 NANDY: a man that lives in a workhouse MR.

PLORNISH: one of Mr. Casby's tenants that helps Little Dorrit MRS. PLORNISH: Mr. Plornish's wife, the daughter of Mr. Nandy MR. RUGG: a lawyer and agent MR. EDMUND SPARKLER: dim-witted son of Mrs. Merdle from her first marriage and husband to Fanny Dorrit MRS. MERDLE: an admired woman of society who is fashionable and well bred BAR: a lawyer friend of Mr. Merdle's PHYSICIAN: a friend of Mr. Merdle's BISHOP: a friend of Mr. Merdle's TINKLER: Mr. Dorrit's valet, whom he distrusts MRS. BANGHAM: a charwoman of the Marhsalsea who nurses Mrs. Dorrit HARRIET BEADLE (CALLED TATTYCORAM): an orphan girl the Meagles adopted that is very passionate MRS. CHIVERY: wife of John Chivery Sr. and owner of a tobacco shop MR. F'S AUNT: a difficult old lady that Flora takes care of who is the aunt of her late husband MRS.

GENERAL: a widowed lady hired to coach the Dorrit girls into becoming ladies MRS. GOWAN: Henry's mother MAGGY: a retarded girl that Little Dorrit helps ANASTATIA RUGG: daughter of Mr. Rugg MRS. TICKIT: cook and housekeeper of the Meagles "Little Dorrit" Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb trailers and videos full cast and crew trivia official sites memorable quotes Overview 61 out of 71 people found the following review useful: Great dramatisation of Dickens' story of debt and greed...and desire from United Kingdom 8 December 2008 Oh, I do love a good period drama I got interested enough after one episode of this to re-read the book for the first time in 10 years, and was impressed by how very dark and cynical Dickens' tone is. The show is well-shot and well made, and does the book justice in almost every way. The only thing which is  so far  slightly lost is the cynicism: the staggering incompetence and idleness of the Circumlocution Office is meant to be an attack on the whole governmental administration system.

Likewise, the inordinate raising up of one person above others on a great balloon of hot air, and the great, national disgrace that was the imprisonment of whole families for debt. The intensity of the satire is missing  which is a great shame, since a central part of the story finds its perfect parallel in events unfolding both in this country and elsewhere right now. That was a missed opportunity  but I suspect the show wouldn't have attracted such ready funding and promotion if it laid the satire on too thick at the expense of say, the costumes (yawn). The casting is excellent, and it seems almost unfair to single out individuals from the list, including Judy Parfitt's cold Mrs Clennam, Tom Courtenay's vain, haunted Mr Dorrit, Russell Tovey's charmingly emotional young Chivery, Claire Foy's delicate, youthful Amy and Matthew McFadyen's kind-hearted, generous Arthur. Ruth Jones' wondrous recreation of the voluminous Flora is bettered only by Annette Crosbie's frankly terrifying Aunt.

(She's how I want to be when I get old!) I'd been disappointed by McFadyen's Mr Darcy in the Joe Wright film "Pride & Prejudice" - it was almost at times as if he had been stuffed, and his looks were somehow lost in the mix. Here all his best attributes are to the fore  his eyes, his height, his voice and manner, the excellence of his diction  all these create a warm, breathing man out of really quite flimsy material. In the book and even in this dramatisation, Arthur is a rather shadowy presence, on the sidelines while things happen to those around him. Yet his appearance each week is like a beacon, a feeling of warmth, like home. Claire Foy does a really wonderful job as the title character. Dickens' heroines used to drive me mad  so tiny and blushing and always so very, irritatingly good, drat them. Foy manages to be all of these things, but to be likable too, and I very much admire her for it. The way she looks at her father  half with love, half with pity  is spot on.

Tom Courtenay is brilliant  I can't imagine anyone else being able to bring so much to the character of this foolish, vain, blind Mr Dorritt. I kept missing episodes and having to watch them on the (BBC's excellent i-player) catch up site. Now I've at last seen the final episode I think it's sadly rushed, missing a few voyeuristic opportunities for catching up on some of the minor characters seen in the series. However the scenes between John Chivery, Arthur and Amy are moving and beautifully handled. I will definitely be getting hold of the DVD. This one's a keeper. Was the above review useful to you? 50 out of 57 people found the following review useful: Evocative picturisation, stellar cast, excellent performances - BBC at its best! Author: kabosse 12 December 2008 This BBC adaptation of the Dickens novel has enthralled me from the very beginning, mainly because of the outstanding quality of its performances.

Every single character, even minor ones like the insufferably haughty Merdle butler or the paranoid Italian (perhaps with the exception of Maggy who's perfectly manicured fingernails in one close-up blew her otherwise worthy portrayal), has been ideally cast and all the actors are absolutely convincing in their delivery. What made me write this comment, though, was Tom Courtenay's heart-wrenching performance as Mr. Dorrit for which I hope he will receive all the accolades he deserves. His multifaceted Dorrit awed me until the very end and will resonate with me for a long time. What I particularly liked about the series was how we got more than a glimpse of all the characters' 'little lives', people going about their respective businesses, revolving in their little worlds. Even if a scene only touched on a certain character, setting, costumes, and dialogue provided ample information for the viewer to evoke the full picture of this character's life and to imagine how they would go on after the camera had panned away to continue with the main story. On top of that, the great care put into the selection of costumes and locations made Little Dorrit a real feast for the eye, perfectly accompanied by the wonderful score by John Lunn.

May this be a 'true Dickens' or not, what it surely is, is Grand TV. And as such, it adds another sparkling jewel to my cherished collection of BBC adaptations. Was the above review useful to you? 38 out of 42 people found the following review useful: Wonderful from New Zealand 7 February 2009 From the first moments of this wonderful production we (mum, dad and two girls 10 and 12) were entranced. Unlike those in the UK who would see this a slice a week, we saw the whole lot over a single long weekend. As I write - we've just two episodes to go... We have all the BBC Dickens productions for comparison - including the recent Bleak House and our favourites Great Expectations and (my personal top) Our Mutual Friend. LD comes v.close to the top of this pile - The last two episodes may tip the balance.... From the first, this production grabs with its beautiful and (perhaps unusually) 'sunny' scenery. None of the austerity of the recent Great Expectations production, nor the gloominess of Bleak House. Actually this made for a nice change.... The acting is perfect - with key emotional scenes being utterly believable.

The actor playing Young Chivery (heading for great things I suspect) induced a flood burst of tears from my 10 year old in the marriage proposal scene. As others have mentioned, even the smaller parts are excellently cast and played. But there's something else at play here to make this possible. In many Dickens productions Directors seem loath to leave peripheral characters out. Bleak House in particular suffered for this I think. In LD everyone seems to have space and time in which to be presented and to evolve. It never feels chaotic or suffocating - time is taken, and this makes the whole that more soluble. The leads are all superb - Little Dorit is perfectly perfect without being goody goody....(another issue with Bleak House), and Andrew McFad is particularly good, managing to look younger than he did in the wonderful Pride and Prejudice... And did he chub up for the role? Things have been left out - and perhaps the damning indictment of society and government are not so forcibly presented as they might have been. But what remains is a delightful mystery, beautifully told and acted and which we will want to watch all over again as soon as we've come to the end. Was the above review useful to you?

31 out of 36 people found the following review useful: Brilliant Dickens dramatisation, with outstanding performances and superlative period detail from United Kingdom 5 November 2009 I admit I hadn't read the book for a long time, and I do remember finding it rather complicated. Reading it again, I found it an insightful piece of literature, but it isn't the easiest book to sink your teeth into at first. But along with 2005's Bleak House, this adaptation of Little Dorrit was absolutely brilliant, and by far one of the better dramatisations of 2008. What is worth of mention is the period detail. It was stunning and truly evocative! You can never go wrong with realistic looking sets,skillful camera work, lavish costumes and breathtaking scenery, and this adaptation scored highly in all four of these areas. The music from John Lunn was gorgeous, and the scripts were of exceptional quality. The plot, may be a little complicated at times, but I will say at 17 I was hooked from minute one. I think it was to do with how every scene was shot and executed. There are a handful of poignant, bleak and truly haunting moments throughout.

Other than the overall closeness to the book and how it was filmed, what made this dramatisation was the quality of the performances. I don't think anybody gave a bad performance whatsoever. Claire Foy gives an appealing lead performance as Amy, and Matthew MacFadyen is charming and handsome. Tom Courtenay is truly heart-wrenching as Amy's father, in one of his best understated performances, and I do think Courtenay is in some ways undervalued as an actor, Allun Armstrong is as reliable as ever as Jeremiah and Andy Serkis steals every scene he's in in a truly sinister performance as Rigaud (who is a real creep). And I found his accent convincing, if anything he could have done with more screen time. Overall, I cannot sing my praises enough of this fine dramatisation of Dickens' book. 10/10 Bethany Cox Was the above review useful to you? 34 out of 43 people found the following review useful: A lot of "Dorrit".. from United Kingdom 13 December 2008 ...

hardly "Little" when you see it spread over 12 half-hour and two hour-long bookend episodes, BBC's new production repeats the successful episodic template of the previous "Bleak House", with adaptor-extraordinaire Andrew Davies' latest dramatisation of classic Dickens again, proving, on the whole to be a successful and highly entertaining epic. The novel (no pun intended) idea of breaking down the book to bite-size half-hour chunks to echo the monthly magazine serialisation in Dickens' own time, certainly kept me looking forward with anticipation to the next one, even if it does cater to the half-hour-soap mentality and attention-span of much of today's target audience. The settings were superb, with every background filled in and peopled appropriately, from the squalor of The Marshalsea Prison to the grandeur of the stately homes of London and Venice as The Dorrits make their parabolic journey on the path of moral regeneration.

The direction was well-paced and occasionally imaginative while the acting, with a few exceptions was excellent, particularly in the crucial main roles where Claire Foy and Matthew Macfadyen in arguably the leads convey without too much sentimentality (Dickens' goodly characters frequently teeter on the edge of over-sentimental caricature) their traits of honesty, loyalty, self-sacrifice and humility. The story has elements of Trollope's "The Way We Live Now" (another recent BBC/Davies triumphant adaptation) in its exposure of the unprincipled fat-cats at the centre of high finance, with of course echoes of today's post-credit-crunch collapsing banks in the depiction of Mr Merdle as the epicentre of the bubble that has to burst sometime. Plus ca change... Everyone will have their own favourites amongst the rest of the cast.

I was particularly impressed by Eddie Marsan as the tough rent-collector with a heart, the snorting Pankes, Russell Tovey as the lovelorn lock-keeper's son John Chivery, Ruth Jones as Clennam's blowsy, bloated childhood sweetheart, Flora Flinching (her transformation from the slim teenager of his memory to today's fat frump, was deftly rendered) and Flora Robson lookalike Judy Parfitt as Arthur's cold, immovable (in every sense of the word) "mother". The biggest star on board, arguably, is Tom Courteney who skilfully makes sympathetic the basically aloof, pompous, self-deluding Mr Dorrit, particularly his descent into madness and sudden death. On the debit side, I found Freema Agyeman miscast and tending to overact in the admittedly difficult part of Tattycoram and if I was being picky just a little too much of the archetypal Victorian melodramatic villain in the performances of John Alderton and Andy Serkis as the rogues of the piece, Casby and Rigaud/Blandois.

Davies' screenplay as ever can't resist the odd allusion to today, but I always find such moments jarring and there are certainly some crudities here which I don't recall Dickens employing. Seems such a shame to go to all the trouble of period recreation to besmirch it with clever-clever in-jokes to a modern audience. That said however, I was thoroughly transported into the Dickens' world that I love and wait with anticipation, the next production. Davies should take on a real challenge in my opinion next time with "Edwin Drood" and fashion us a credible conclusion to Dickens' death-shortened final work. Was the above review useful to you? 10 out of 12 people found the following review useful: Wow...just, wow! from Los Angeles, CA 24 January 2011 Generally the BBC adaptation of Dickens are great, but this was just something more. Not only is this a great story, parts of which could have been ripped from recent financial headlines, but the script, cast and direction were pretty much flawless from beginning to end. And did I mention the cinematography? The plan was to watch the 4 disc set over several days. That didn't quite work out.

The second day became a marathon viewing session. All of us watching kept calling out for the next installment as soon as the previous one came to an end. It had it all: love story, social commentary, great characters, and a mystery that isn't solved until the very end. I won't say what that is. In a way, it is incidental to the story. It will keep you guessing, but it is not really the point. Get it and watch it. You won't be disappointed. Was the above review useful to you? 9 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Little Dorrit BBC movie--possible spoiler alert 2 May 2010 *** This review may contain spoilers *** I am a great fan of period dramas in general, and especially of the Andrew Davies BBC adaptations. Of all the movies done of Pride and Prejudice, none come anywhere near the exemplary dramatization done by Mr. Davies. I saw the original 1988? movie of Little Dorrit, and apparently was one of the few who really enjoyed it!

I thought the actress Sarah Pickering was appropriately waifish, mysterious, resolute but "minding her humble place," and I have no problem with actresses re-creating characters that are accurately representative of the way women behaved in that time period, and the way Dickens wrote them. The sassiness that 21st century actress often bring Dickens' characters is bothersome because it is simply not an accurate representation. We have to get past our pride to accept that this is just how reality was back then, and if done right, the proper 19th century representation can have something very refreshing and winsome about it. That is why I enjoyed Sarah Pickering's Dorrit. Having said that, Andrew Davies' Little Dorrit was really very good. Claire Foy as Amy was a bit saucy at times for my taste, but overall did an excellent job. The entire production was high-class and visually very attractive. The plot had some unexplainable loose ends, and since I haven't read the book, I'm not sure if it's a fault of the book, or because the movie just ran out of time.

For example, Tattiecorem was a big, colorful character, well-developed, at the beginning of the story. By the end of the story, I wondered what had happened to her and what was the purpose of her character being in the story at all. Same with Pet and Henry--after the baby was born, what happened to them?? And I didn't understand the purpose of the Blandois character to the plot in general. He was a frightening, vicious killer at the beginning. By the end he was an annoying, intrusive extortionist but kind of lost the "evil". I can't figure out why Dickens needed a character like that to expose the secret of Mrs. Clennan. It seemed totally unrelated to the rest of the story. Perhaps Mr. Davies just had too many characters to deal with, even with such an epically long program. But none of that detracted from my enjoyment of the movie. It was high quality in every way. I plan to buy the DVD and add it to my collection! Was the above review useful to you? 7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Runs the gamut of incidents and struggles usually found in all of Dickens' tales... from U.S.A.

1 January 2010 LITTLE DORRIT is an excellent British TV version of the Dickens novel, the kind of saga that almost makes David Copperfield's struggles look pale by comparison. Here, the leading characters are mystified by the secrets involving their past and the young man ends up in debtor's prison when he can't pay his creditors. Everything is eventually cleared up, but getting to the end of all the woes is quite a struggle. As usual, all of it has been given magnificent production values, great sets that look as though people really lived there in those times, and fine acting by an ensemble cast of fine British actors. MATTHEW MACFAYDEN and CLAIRE FOY are splendid in the leading roles and ANDY SERKIS does a fine job as the villainous Ragaud. I'm going to have to watch the replay to see the whole story, but what I saw has certainly whetted my appetite for catching the whole story from beginning to end. I can see why this production has been winning so many awards. Fine job. Was the above review useful to you?

8 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Classic drama from United Kingdom 10 October 2010 I love this version of Little Dorrit. Whilst I have not read the book, and so cannot vouch for its following the storyline faithfully, I find it interesting enough to enjoy it immensely every time I watch it. Some characters are funny, some capricious, others are mercenary whilst a few are kind and good hearted. The juxtaposition of all the different personalities really does make good viewing, and the true Dickensian oddities are very funny and entertaining, like Mr. Panks or the extraordinary French gentleman! The story holds a lot of events and developments that both interest and satisfy the viewer. A classic tale of love, hardship and affluence, this film is like a ray of sunlight in a darkened room: murky and mysterious, yet somehow also rather quaint and sweet. Was the above review useful to you?

8 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Wow - Simply The Best Thing I Have Ever Seen On PBS from Boxford, MA, United States 17 October 2010 I stumbled on to this series about half way through an early episode purely by accident and within 5 minutes I was totally hooked - wow. My favorite programs are a combination of a great story, careful character development and excellent acting. This series has all these and more - the cinematography shows great sensitivity, the sets and costumes world class and even the theme music is mesmerizing. Each episode practically stands on it's own. It's the whole package. Clair Foy is nothing short of brilliant - I have never seen a character that so completely captures your sympathies and heart. She is the perfect manifestation of beauty being so much more than skin deep. Matthew Macfadyen is the idea counterpart and perfectly represents the goodness that mankind can (should) strive to achieve. The electricity between Matthew Macfadyen and Claire Foy is also magic. Tom Courtenay performance is in many ways the most extraordinary of all. His role as William Dorrit is by far the most complex and challenging.

Tom Courtenay's insight into this complex and rapidly evolving character is truly remarkable - I have seen very few that could compare. In my mind on the same level as George C. Scott in Patton. The other supporting actors are also faultless almost to a man (or woman). If you haven't seen this one - I suggest you do it's great and timeless entertainment. Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 3: Dorrit: Meaning Of Name Dorrit | Nameberry.com Comments The " Little Dorrit " title character of Charles Dickens' novel was actually named Amy ; Dorrit was her last name. The Dorit spelling is a short form of Dorotea in Danish and Dorrit has been used as a first name, but its origins are as a surname derived from Dorothea or Durward . Little Dorrit (TV Mini-Series 2008) - IMDb Little Dorrit The series tells the story of Amy Dorrit, who spends her days earning money for the family and looking after her proud father, who is a long term inmate of Marshalsea debtors' prison in ...

See full summary » Stars: From $1.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC 3 Places You May Have Seen Claire Foy, Besides The Crown 9 January 2017 9:35 AM, -08:00 | POPSUGAR a list of 35 titles created 19 Feb 2013 a list of 36 titles created 06 Nov 2013 a list of 41 titles created 25 Mar 2014 a list of 33 titles created 03 Oct 2014 a list of 37 titles created 30 Dec 2014 Search for " Little Dorrit " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 8 wins & 32 nominations.

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As a child she was often made to feel that she was the poor relation but... See full summary » Director: Iain B. MacDonald At 10, Fanny Price, a poor relation, goes to live at Mansfield Park, the estate of her aunt's husband, Sir Thomas. Clever, studious, and a writer with an ironic imagination and fine moral ... See full summary » Director: Patricia Rozema Edit Storyline The series tells the story of Amy Dorrit, who spends her days earning money for the family and looking after her proud father, who is a long term inmate of Marshalsea debtors' prison in London. Amy and her family's world is transformed when her boss's son, Arthur Clennam, returns from overseas to solve his family's mysterious legacy and discovers that their lives are interlinked. Written by Anonymous 29 March 2009 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know?

Trivia The white floral and polka dot day dress Freema Agyeman (Tattycoram) wears bowling with Pet Meagles is the same costume Samantha Morton (Harriet Smith) wears on the horse with Frank Churchill in Emma (1996). See more » Connections (New Zealand) – See all my reviews From the first moments of this wonderful production we (mum, dad and two girls 10 and 12) were entranced. Unlike those in the UK who would see this a slice a week, we saw the whole lot over a single long weekend. As I write - we've just two episodes to go... We have all the BBC Dickens productions for comparison - including the recent Bleak House and our favourites Great Expectations and (my personal top) Our Mutual Friend. LD comes v.close to the top of this pile - The last two episodes may tip the balance.... From the first, this production grabs with its beautiful and (perhaps unusually) 'sunny' scenery. None of the austerity of the recent Great Expectations production, nor the gloominess of Bleak House. Actually this made for a nice change.... The acting is perfect - with key emotional scenes being utterly believable.

The actor playing Young Chivery (heading for great things I suspect) induced a flood burst of tears from my 10 year old in the marriage proposal scene. As others have mentioned, even the smaller parts are excellently cast and played. But there's something else at play here to make this possible. In many Dickens productions Directors seem loath to leave peripheral characters out. Bleak House in particular suffered for this I think. In LD everyone seems to have space and time in which to be presented and to evolve. It never feels chaotic or suffocating - time is taken, and this makes the whole that more soluble. The leads are all superb - Little Dorit is perfectly perfect without being goody goody....(another issue with Bleak House), and Andrew McFad is particularly good, managing to look younger than he did in the wonderful Pride and Prejudice... And did he chub up for the role? Things have been left out - and perhaps the damning indictment of society and government are not so forcibly presented as they might have been. But what remains is a delightful mystery, beautifully told and acted and which we will want to watch all over again as soon as we've come to the end.

37 of 41 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Little Dorrit Summary This page presents a summary of the plot and characters of Little Dorrit, a novel of social criticism by Charles Dickens . Little Dorrit Summary Little Dorrit is a book by Charles Dickens published in serial instalments between 1855 and 1857. Book One: Poverty Reproduction of the Original Cover for Little Dorrit William Dorrit is a distinguished gentleman but an incompetent businessman. He falls into debt and because he is unable to pay his creditors, is confined to the Marshalsea, a debtor's prison in London . In accordance with the law at the time, Dorrit's family - his wife and two children, the snobbish Fanny and lazy Tip - are allowed to accompany him to the jail and share his cell. Later, the Dorrits have a daughter, Amy, who is born in prison. Amy is referred to as Little Dorrit because of her size and youth. Little Dorrit is doted on by the other inmates of the jail as well as the jail's warden. When Little Dorrit is eight years old, her mother dies. A few years later Mrs.

Bangham, who had helped deliver Little Dorrit when she was born, and the jailer, who had formed a special bond with Little Dorrit also die. Upon the warden's death, William Dorrit becomes the dean of the prison and is referred to as the "Father of the Marshalsea" while Little Dorrit, now 16 years old, is referred to as the "Daughter of the Marshalsea". Little Dorrit dutifully supports her family with the money she earns by sewing. The lives of the Dorrits are intertwined in a mysterious way with the Clennam family. Arthur Clennam, who is in his forties, has just returned to London after being to the Orient on family business. His own father has died the year before, and Clennam has come back to see his mother. Shortly before his death, Arthur Clennam's father had given his son a watch with a piece of silk paper inside, with the letters D.N.F on it which stood for "Do Not Forget". Thinking that the watch was intended for his mother, Arthur has it shipped back home to his mother from China. However, his mother angrily refuses to discuss the meaning of the watch or the note.

On his return to Europe, Arthur docks at the French port of Marseilles and is quarantined with a number of other passengers. Here Arthur meets Miss Wade, a husband and wife by the last name of Meagles and their daughter "Pet", and Tattycorum, an orphan that they have adopted and who works as their servant. Eventually Arthur returns to London with the intention of telling his mother that he has left the firm, but he is oppressed by the feeling that there his family is guilty of something (perhaps an unpaid debt) and that there is a mystery at the heart of the relationship between his parents. Little Dorrit helps her siblings to find work and leave the jail, while she herself finds work as a domestic in the home of Arthur's mother, Mrs. Clennam, where Arthur meets her for the first time. Little Dorrit is now 22 years old. Little Dorrit: The Marhsalsea Becomes and Orphan, illustrations by Phiz Arthur finds Little Dorrit attractive and when she returns to her home at the Marshalsea jail, where she still lives with her father, he decides to follow her.

It is then that Arthur realizes the extreme poverty in which she lives and he decides to be her protector. Little Dorrit falls in love with Arthur but she is far too shy and feels too inferior socially to reveal her true feelings. Meanwhile Little Dorrit does not realize that the son of the Marshalsea jail warden is in love with her. Arthur makes enquiries about the Dorrit family. He asks Little Dorrit if she had ever heard the name Clennam before going to work for his mother, but she replies that she had not. However Arthur suspects that there is in fact a connection between his family and the Dorrits and he suspects that his mother may have had something to do with the Dorrits' downfall. Little Dorrit, the Brothers. In an attempt to unravel the mystery Arthur turns to Titus Barnacle for information about the nature of William Dorrit's debt. Barnacle is a bureaucrat in the slow moving government ministry called the Circumlocution Office, where papers are pushed on and on, with nothing ever done. Barnacle and his Circumlocution Office are an allegory about government waste and inefficiency. While at the Circumlocution Office Arthur meets Mr.

Meagles again and an inventor named Daniel Doyce, with whom he enters into a business partnership. With the help of a tireless debt collector named Panck, Arthur finally discovers that William Dorrit is the heir to a large fortune. The Dorrits are now rich and William Dorrit is able to pay off his debts and leave the debtors' prison for the first time in decades. Book Two: Wealth Suddenly wealthy and respectable again, Mr. Dorrit decides to take his family on a holiday to Europe. Mr. Dorrit and his children, except for Little Dorrit, take on snobbish airs. Mr. Dorrit begins to frequently criticize Little Dorrit, who had once been his favorite child, for not having good social graces and not fitting in to the high society in which they are now mingling. Little Dorrit's father also begins scheming to marry her off to someone of high society, much to the dismay of Little Dorrit who is in love with Arthur. This period ends with the death of Little Dorrit's father. Little Dorrit then goes to live with her now married older sister and her foppish husband, Edmund Sparkler.

However the Dorrit family fortune is suddenly lost again when her sister's husband lose everything in a fraudulent investment scheme run by Edmund's father and an accomplice. This financial collapse also ruins Arthur, and the Dorrits and Arthur are now all imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea prison. Little Dorrit Video Meanwhile a French villain on the run from the law, discovers that Arthur is not really Mrs. Clennam's son. It turns out that Arthur was the love child of his father and a beautiful singer. Arthur's father had given up his true love and married Arthur's step mother because of pressure from his wealthy uncle. The child had been raised as their own. The uncle was consumed by guilt for having broken up the relationship between Arthur's father and his biological mother, and to assuage his guilt he had left his estate to the Arthur's biological mother and "the youngest daughter of her patron," a musician who happened to be Little Dorrit's now deceased uncle. Because Little Dorrit's uncle had no children, the inheritance now belongs to her. Mrs. Clennam confesses to Little Dorrit that she has hidden this secret from her and from Arthur and begs for forgiveness. Mrs.

Clennam then collapses out of her wheel chair and in a somewhat ridiculous scene reminiscent of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, the house begins to fall down around her, killing the would be blackmailer Rigaud. It is indeed the fall of the house of Clennam. Little Dorrit decides not to tell Arthur because she knows that he will be crushed to learn the truth about his mother. As a result, she passes up the opportunity to claim her inheritance. But in yet another melodramatic and improbable plot twist all ends well anyway. Arthur's business partner returns from Turkey a rich man and Arthur is released from jail. Little Dorrit and Arthur then get married and live happily ever after, which might not have been a very long time given the short life expectancies of Victorian England and the twenty year age difference between them. As is typical of Dickens' novels, Little Dorrit has many subplots involving minor characters. One subplot involves Mr. and Mrs. Meagles, whom Arthur had first met at Marseilles in the company of Miss Wade and their daughter Pet as well as their foster daughter and servant Tattycorum.

Pet marries an artist named Gowan, while Tattycorum is lured away by Miss Wade a sinister man-hating character who is an accomplice of the criminal Rigaud. Miss Wade's hatred for men turns out to be due to the fact that she was once jilted by Gowan, the same man that Pet married. In some ways these subplots are filler meant to create a rich landscape of characters and incidents. And while one must admire Dickens's ability to create memorable characters, even when they have a minor role in the novel, the intertwining of their lives is unrealistic and improbable.

Question: What is the first name of the title character in Dickens' novel 'Little Dorrit'?
Answer: 'AMY'